For all of you who are looking to lift your truck this faq created by Toku58 on Toyota Nation should be the very first step into your research.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toku58

First Of all let me go over some basic terminology for truck.

Coilover: A coilover refers to the front coil spring and shock assembly. They are built as one unit, unlike a spring and shock suspension which are 2 seperate parts.

Shock: A shock is an oil or gas filled piston unit that when installed are designed to resists quick or shocking movement.

UCA: Are the Upper Control Arms of your front IFS (Independent front suspension) Mainly responsible for the vertical alignment of the front spindles. (For the most part it is non- load bearing)

LCA: Are the Lower Control Arms of the front IFS. This is the part that will see most of the load in you front suspension. It works in unison with the UCA.

Add-A-Leaf Or commonly referred to as AAL's! these are additional springs that are excessively arched to provide additional lift or support to the rear of our trucks. (They maybe used in the front of some vehicles but NOT ours!)

Leaf Pack: Leaf packs are just that a replacement "set" of leaf springs designed to have a better spring rate, and in some cases add lift or additional load capacity.

Alignment I'm sure everyone has heard of alignment. Every car or turk need their alignment check periodically. Alignment is very important in determining the performance characteristics of a vehicle.

Caster: is the angle that your front tire are tilted in relation to the steering axis!

Camber: Camber is the angle that you tires are in relation to the vertical axis when viewed from the front of the vehicle.

Toe: Toe is the angle at which your front tire turn in or out in relationship to each other.

There are several types of lifts offered for our trucks. We'll start with the least costly. I will touch on Spacer lift kits, Coil lift kits, and Coilover lift kits. Also I will try to provide links, as they are applicable.

Options for the front!

Bilstien 5100's This is a great affordable lift kit. These replacement shocks are great to add a few inches to the front of your Tacoma, it is adjustable and have a slightly better valving system than the stock shocks that come with the Tacoma's. (But please take note NO One recommends it to be used in conjunction with after market coils) This may result in damage of your suspension components.

Pro Basic kit from Toytec: $209.99Spacer Lifts: These are spacers made primarily out of aluminum. They are installed on top of your coils and also on top of the strut plate.

OME coils lift kits from Toytec: $299.98
This kit comes with replacement coils for the front, 884 or 885's. These are longer replacement coils, which also come with a 1/2" Aluminum spacer. The Install will be basically the same as the spacer kit. (Link posted above)

Coilover lift kit: $1050.00 Free s/h
(DR Coilovers) Most common. Others are available such as Sway-A-way, Fabtech, All Pro, and Camburg to name a few?
These are the high end of the 3" lifts. Extremely easy to install, due to the fact they come already assembled. It is simply a matter of remove and replace. They are also very versatile, in that they are adjustable. Therefore can be adjusted to fit your needs.

First off you have:Lift blocks:
These are blocks of metal that are placed under you rear leaf packs, on top of your axles. The kit includes the lift blocks and longer U-bolts. This is the most basic of the rear lifts and adds NO additional benefits other than height.

Add-A-Leafs
This type of lift consists of an additional Leaf spring that has an increased arc. They added lift by increasing the curve of your rear stock spring pack. They also allow added load capacity for hauling.

Leaf Packs:
This type of rear lift is the high end of rear lifts.
Consists of a new multiple spring pack. Provides lift, a smoother spring rate. May add or decrease carrying capacity depending on the spring characteristics.

This rear lift is also fairly simple to do since they come pre-assembled. Simply R&R.

Body Lift $325.95 http://www.suspensionconnection.com/...scon/5603.html
This is a lift that is Achieved by adding spacers to the body mounting points. This lift essentially increases the distance between the frame and the cab. This lift requires other parts such as fuel line extension, bumper brackets, and larger fender skirts to hide the increased gap, between the fender and the frame. You will also need to extend the steering unit.

I will cover 2 Brands Camburg, and Total Chaos. There are others like All Pro or DR, but since I have No first hand experience with these I'll let others chime in on them.

Camburg UCA's: from my experience, and from what Camburg has informed me about, were designed to give greater clearance to accommodate larger coil over coils. They are NOT designed to correct alignment issues, caused by the addition of a 3" lift.

Total Chaos: These are UCA's specifically designed to help correct the alignment issue caused by the addition of a 3" lift.

Both of these lifts are limited by the length of the shock. Both will have a jarring sensation when traveling over bumps at speed.

OME makes longer shocks which are designed for a 3" lift. This will allow better articulation of your suspension. BUT! Remember with the increased travel you will need longer brake lines.

"possible issues"

-After you lift your truck, and find that at speed it wanders all over the road?
-You need a set of UCA's to correct you alignment.

-Remember that mostly everything you alter on your truck's suspension will have an affect on other components.

-Excessive wear on CV boots due to increased angle.
-You can install a differential drop.

-Rear drive line vibration or shudder.
-Carrier bearing drop. (IMHO not a good idea)
-Tom Woods one piece drive shaft. (So far this seems to be the only cure)

Tire rubbing:

Although the height is increased with a lift? The size of the wheel/fender opening remains the same.
So in actuality the stock 265's are the biggest tire that can articulate and clear through 98% of the suspensions range of movement.

The 285's is more for aesthetics and looks rather than serious offroading.

If you choose to run 285's, with a 3" lift, and you want to do some serious offroading? Then you may need to cut away a portion of you front body mount, to allow the tire free movement while doing full turns.

But don't be mistaken with this set up you can still do some great offroading! You just may encounter some rubbing of your tires.

Please take everything I have stated with a "grain of salt" and decide for yourself!

Good Luck!

Note: I am not the author of the above quote and am in no way attempting to take credit for Toku's work.

First off, let me start by saying this is the 1st truck I've owned and know very little about truck suspensions, so don't razz because I am asking stupid questions. Second, I have an 08 Tacoma DC LB 4x4 SR5. I would've liked to have gotten the TRD, but it would've been an extra 3-4k and couldn't really afford it. I am thinking I may want a little bit higher stance and slightly bigger tires.

1. What the difference between a lift kit and a leveling kit? A lift kit lifts both the front and the rear of the vehicle. A leveling kit generally only lifts the front end so that the front and rear have the same amount of ground clearence.
2. When something says a 3" lift, does that really mean 3"? And where are they measuring from (ground to fender, uncompressed height, etc.)? A 3" lift generally lifts the front end 3" and the rear 1" to 1.5" (depending on the kit).
3. If I wanted to go from 245s to 265s would I need a lift? A 265/70/16 tire is the stock size on the TRD and will fit without a lift on a 4x4 or Prerunner. You do not need to lift to fit this size. 4. If I just wanted a slightly higher ride (1-3") and a slightly beefier suspension, would putting Bilstien 5100's (like here http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/05-08...mZ300243217481) on the front and rear work? If yes, what would be the positives and negatives of doing this? How hard would it be to do it myself? The 5100s are great. They are adjustable in four increments (0, .85, 1.75, and 2.5) to lift the front end of the truck. Most people who only want to level their truck go with 1.75". This is a great place to start, I plan on buying them for my truck sometime within the next week or so. The install depends on your mechincal level and tool access. It looks like I will end up paying someone to install them because I don't want to mess with a spring compressor.
5. What is the difference between the SR5 and TRD Suspensions and how much would it cost to use aftermarket parts to convert an SR5 to a TRD and is it worth it? The TRD has Progressive Coils and Bilstien shocks. The 5100s are better than the shocks that come with the TRD. If you want the coils check the for sale area of the forum.

Yeah, that helps, Thanks.
Couple more questions (for now):
1. Stock, the rear of the truck has higher ground clearance? Are you talking at the frame?
2. So if I were to do the 5100s front and rear, what would be the negatives? Ride quality, CV boot wear, etc?

Higher ground clearance of suspension and frame.

You will have a stiffer ride (which some people like) and once you get over 3" of lift you can run into problems with the CV boots wearing and tearing.

So, to level the front end of my prerunner, could I simply add the bilstein 5100s and adjust to the 1.75 on the front? Or would I need to replace the front and rear shocks? If I add rear shocks, do I not raise them, since the rear of the truck is naturally higher than the front?

So, to level the front end of my prerunner, could I simply add the bilstein 5100s and adjust to the 1.75 on the front? Or would I need to replace the front and rear shocks? If I add rear shocks, do I not raise them, since the rear of the truck is naturally higher than the front?

You only have to replace the front shocks if your leveling the truck. The rear shocks do not give any lift, but they will ride better.

Thanks for the info. Sorry to keep asking stupid questions, but I have 1 more...If the front has coilovers which are the shocks and springs built together, you just take it apart and replace the old shock with the bilstein and leave the stock springs?

well, it seems that without extreme modifications you cant get substantially bigger tires to fit. which isnt really the case for jeeps. but jeeps ride even worse lifted than stock.

so what does the Total Chaos LT kit cost? and does that just cover the front? are there really no complete kits for tacomas?

what does a 265 or 285 translate to anyways? 31, 32 inches?

You can run 33"s on a 3" lift with minimal trimming. A 285/75/16 is a 33" tire. Lots of people run 35"s with a 6" lift, but it can be done with a 3" lift if your willing to make them fit. We have a member on here who is running 37"s with 9" of lift on his 2nd gen.

I don't know the cost for Total Chaos LT, but I do know its a substantial amount of money. I don't know much about LT so if your looking for knowledge on that I suggest you check out TTORA's Desert and LT Folder. I go in there from time to time just to drool at the trucks there.

Thanks for the info. Sorry to keep asking stupid questions, but I have 1 more...If the front has coilovers which are the shocks and springs built together, you just take it apart and replace the old shock with the bilstein and leave the stock springs?

Everybody was new to this at one point in time.

Coilovers are fully assembled coils + shocks. For the install you remove your stock coils and shocks and replace them with the full coilovers. As far as lifts for our trucks go, coilovers are the easiest thing to install as they do not require a spring compressor like coil lifts do.

Here's a visual for you. These are the Toytec Coilovers. They come fully assembled. All you gotta do is remove the stock coils+shocks and install this.